The soil sample, called LZS-1, is the latest in a list of lunar regolith simulants of varying quality that have been developed to help Nasa and other space agencies around the world prepare for missions to the Moon.Īmong the first lunar simulants to be developed was Minnesota Lunar Simulant 1 (MLS-1) at the University of Minnesota in 1988 from basalt found at an abandoned quarry in Duluth, Minnesota. They have used it to create a sample of lunar regolith simulant that can be used to test hardware and experiments before they are sent to the Moon. It will help put humans back on the Moon.Ī team of Spanish scientists have found that the basalt at a quarry near Tao bears a striking similarity to the samples of lunar regolith – the blanket of dusty and rocky debris covering the Moon's surface – brought back to Earth by the crew of Apollo 14 in 1971. This drab, rocky material has a surprising part to play in one of this decade's most ambitious human endeavours. Recently, however, the town has been receiving visitors of a very different kind – those whose interest lies not in the volcano, but in the dark grey soil that Tao is built upon. And despite its vicinity to the Tamia volcanic crater at the heart of the island, Tao is not one of Lanzarote's key tourist attractions.

It only takes a few moments to pass through it as you drive along the LZ-20 highway that cuts across the middle of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands. Even with the walls of a volcanic crater looming behind the white-washed single-storey buildings, it would be easy to miss the sleepy town of Tao.

Lunar meteorite